
BOSTON I A i^'M 



M E M O K I A L 



JAMES ABEAM GARFIELD. 




f^X.^ ^-^-Kj /f'^'^^-^ 



CopyTl|:ht,lS81, by W. J. B*ittrt. Phomcr^ph-r. B.iffnin, N. T. 



mElIOTYPE PBIMTINfi C3., aOSTilJ 




y 



MEMO R I A L 



JAMES ABEAM GAEFIELD, 



F K O II THE 



CITY OF BOSTON. 



" Viui cnim mortuorum in mcmoria vivorum en poaita." 





BOSTON : 
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 

M 1) C C C L X X X I . 






In BoAiiD OF Aldermen, October 111, 1881. 

Ordered, That the proceedings of the City Council upon the death of James 
A. CiARFiELD, late rresidcnt of the I'nited States, including tlie adih'ess of 
?ratlianiel P. Banks upon his life and pul)lic services, be jn-eparcd by the Clerk 
of Committees, under the direction of tlie Connuittee on I'rinting, and i)rinted for 
the use of the City Council, and that one thousand copies be issued ; tlie 
expense to be cluirged to the appropriation for Printing. 



In Common Council, November .">, 1881. 
Concurred. 

[Approved November 9, 1881.] 







CONTENTS 



AcTiox OF Tin; C'lTV Govbuxjiext 

Dcatli of the I'rcsiileiit .... 

PrOCKEDIXCS of the HoAlU) OF .\l.l)i:iiMEX 

Remarks of the Mayor .... 

Remarks of Ahlcrmaii O'Brien 

Resolutions of the City Council 

Remarks of Altlornian Horsey 

Committee on Memorial Services . 

Committee to attend Obsequies 
Proceedixcs of the Com.mox "Coincii. 

Remarks of Andrew J. liuiley 

Remarks of Henry I'arkinan . 

Remarks of Williani 11. Whitniore 
Mr.MoniAL Services .... 

.Address of the Mayor . 

Prayer by Rev. Samuel K. Lothrop, D.B. 
EcLoov nv Xatiianiei, P. Baxics 
FiXAT, Proceedixcs 



7-23 

9 

10 

10 

13 

U 

15 

17-23 

17-23 

18-23 

18 

19 

21 

25-36 

28 

30 

37-7fi 

77-80 



ACTION OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 



DEATH OF THE PEESIDENT. 



James Aukam Gaiifield, President of the United States, 
received his deatii-wound from the bullet of :in assassin, on the 
second of July, 1X81, while in the Baltimore & Potomac rail- 
road station. Washinfrton, D.C. After eighty days of suffering, 
distinguislied In* heroic patience and manly endurance, lie died 
at Elbcron, N.J., on the evening of IMonday, Scptemlier It), at 
thirty-live minutes past ten o'clock. 

The news of his death was recei\ed in this lity shortly after 
eleven o'clock, and the sad intelligence was communicated to 
our citizens hy liie tolling of the tire-alarm hells. 

The Mayor immediately issued the following call : — 

Executive Department, Sept. 19, 1881. 

2o tlie Ilonorahle the City Coimcil of Boston : — 

Having- been infoi'mecl of the death, whieh occun-eil 
this evening-, of James A. Gaeeielu, tlie President of 
the United States, you are hereby requested to assemble 
in your respective chambers on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 
12 o'clock ]\r., Cor the jiurpose of taking- sucli action 
touching- the solenni event as "svotikl appropi'iately 
express the sympatln' of oin- citizens in this national 
sorrow, and their respect for the memory of the 
deceased. 

FKEDEKICK O. PEINCE, 

Mayor. 



PEOCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL. 



City of Boston, Sept. 20, 1881. 
A special meeting of the City Council of Boston was held 
at twelve o'clock this day, in accordance Mith the call of the 
Mayor, for the jjurposc of taking api)ropriate action upon the 
death of the late President. 



PEOCEEDINGS OF THE P,OARD OF ALDER:\IEN. 

The Board was called to order l)y Ills Honor Mayor Prince, 
who read the call, and then spoke as follows: — 

Gentlemen of the Board of Aldermen: — 

It becomes my painful duty to give you official infor- 
mation of the death of James Abeam Gakfield, 
President of the United States. Shot down by a base 
assassin, on the second day of July last, he lingered 
from that date until thirty-five minutes past ten o'clock 
last evening, Avhen he died. Dui'ing a large part of 
this time he suffered great pain, which he bore with 
manly and uncomplaining fortitude. 

Tliis tcn-ible event has cast a shadow over the Avhole 
country. It has nuide a national sorrow. During all 
his long weeks of sufiering the hopes and sympathies 
and prayers of the whole people have been with him, 
and now that suspense and anxiety are merged in grief 



ACTIOX OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 11 

and mourning they feel that the nation has lost a Chief 
Magistrate whose talents, experience, and patriotism 
were assurances that the great trusts reposed in him 
would have been well and faithfully executed. 

Recently chosen from the people, by the people, to 
administer the government in tlieir behalf, all the citi- 
zens, regardless of political dilFcrences or sectional 
divisions, were prepared to render him llie loyal and 
generous support which he had the right to claim, and 
whicli (lur countrymen — ever subordinating party spirit 
to patriotic duty — arc accustomed to accord. 

We haA'e every reason to believe that he would have 
so administered the government that every political and 
social right secured to the citizens and to the States by 
the Constitution would have been conserved, and that 
the progress of the Kepublic during his official term 
would have hocn such as to demonstrate the al:)ility of 
a free people to select for their rulers those who are 
qualified for the grave and difficult duties of government. 

They wh<» enjoyed the privilege of his intimacy 
represent liim as possessing, in an eminent degree, all 
those cpialities of the liead and heart which beget 
affection and attach men to each other; so that not 
only the nation mourns for tlie loss of a wise, sagacious, 
and patriotic magistrate, but the domestic circle and the 
large circle of devoted friends gi-ieve for the loss of one 
whose kindly nature and great capacity for affection 
enabled him to discharge w^ell and fully all the offices 
of fricndsbip and all the obligations of natural relations. 

Tlie government of tlie country is never seriously 
disturbed by the death of any of its officials, however 



12 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

distinguisliod lie maj l)e for pul)lic or private virtues, 
because it is based on laAv, supported by free institu- 
tions, and protected l)y the loyalty of a patriotic peo2:)le. 
However nuich, therefore, we grieve for the loss of this 
excellent President, we are })erinitted to entertain, in 
our great bereavement, the consoling reflection that no 
apprehension can mingle with the regrets with which 
we lay his mortal remains in their last I'esting-place, 
that danger will come to the Kepidjlic, that the adminis- 
tration of government will be impeded, or that our free 
institutions will be in any way imperilled through the 
death of a Pi-esident. The assassin may murder an 
official, Init law and government he cannot kill while 
patriotism survives, and Ihe i)eople recognize the obliga- 
tions of moral and religious duties. 

The destiny of nations and individuals is in the hands 
of Him Avho notes even the ftill of the sparrow. AVe 
bow in submission to that Divine Will, which orders all 
things well. We may not clearly see how a great and 
])ublic evil can work for the good of a community; 
but there are some lessons which all may learn from it. 
It should teach us humiliation, the ])urification of the 
heart, the resolve tliat iu the future there shall be larger 
charity in our iulercourse with each other, a fuller 
recognition <jf oui' moi-al duties, and a deeper interest 
in the religious education of the people. Political insti- 
tutions based on the affections of the people, and 
representing patriotism, piety, and erpial rights, Avill 
survive rulers and parties, and c-an only perish when 
the public virtues which called them into existence shall 
decline and pass away. 



ACTIOX OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 13 

The Chair will i-eceive any proposition which is 
appropriate to the occasion. 

Aldcnuaii O'Brien said: — 

Mr. Mayor, — It is witli the deepest soitoav and regret 
that I rise to ofier resolutions in honor of the memory of 
the late President of the United .States. A few Aveeks 
ago wo all rejoiced, l)ecause it ajjpcarcd to us at that time 
that the hand of the assassin had failed to accomplish its 
purjjoso ; that our President would live to serve his coun- 
try with that distinguished ability and })atriotism that had 
marked his course since his entrance on public life. An 
all-wise Providence has willed it otherwise. Elected hut 
a few months ago the Chief Magistrate of the nation, he 
had but just entered upon a career of usefulness to his 
country, when he was stricken down for no cause wliat- 
ever. 

Fifty millions of people now mourn their great loss. 
Fifty millions of people are shocked that a man could 
exist among them, could grow up among them, who 
wonld be guilt}' of so great a crime. Words almost fail 
to express our detestation of the act by which so distin- 
guished a citizen has lost his life, and the country a 
Chief Magistrate who was honored and respected 
throughout the land. In common with our fellow- 
citizens in all sections of the country, we mourn our 
gi'eat loss, and honor his memory. With these brief 
remarks I now submit the resolutions of the City 
Council. 



14: MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



RESOUTTIONS OF THE CITV COUNCIL. 

Resolved, That tlie City Council of Boston, in com- 
mon with other communities in this afflicted land, has 
learned, -witli the profoundest sorrow, that the long 
and painful illness of Jame.s A. GtARFIELD, President 
of the United States, who was shot by an assassin on 
the second of July last, has now culminated in his death. 

Besolced, That, by the untimely death of President 
Garfield, this country has sustained an irreparable 
loss; for in him wei'e centred all those graces which 
the highest culture could |)roduce, all that political 
wisdom which a varied expei'ieuce in the council and 
the field could secure, all tliat knowledge of men and 
public alfairs which extensive study and thought could 
suggest, wliich united to make him in reputation and 
in fact the most illustrious citizen in the Union. 

EeanJred, Tliat President CtArfield exemplified, l)y 
his vai-ied and intei'esting experience from boyhood to 
maturit}', the American idea of a ti'ue and lofty citizen- 
ship; and in his wonderful career he exhibited the 
limitless capacity which w'aits at the inception of life 
upon eveiy citizen, no matter how huml)le his birth, if 
he be only fjiithful to his duly and to God. 

Jk'(>si>frt'd, That, besides his public vii'tues, w'e recog- 
nize also with grateful feeling his personal qualities, as 
exhibited by his patience in suffering, his fortitude in 
pain, his manly utterances, his sweet alFections, and his 
Christian faith, which have been so conspicuously dis- 
played, and which have attracted to his bedside the 



ACTION OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 15 

attontioii oC tliis nation and the warmest sympathy 
and prayers of all mankind; tluis illustrating in his 
death, as Avell as in his life, the strength and courage 
of" a noble, virtuous, and Chi'istian cliaracter. 

liesolved, That the members of the City Council, 
individually and collectively, extend to the afflicted 
family of the late President their warmest and most 
sincere sympathies in this sorrowful hour; and they 
desire especially to recognize that devoted allection, 
that saint-like tenderness, and that liei'oic fortitude, 
under circumstances of agonizing sull'ering, which the 
honored wife of the late President has exhibited in her 
unparalleled trials. 

Ordered, That the Mayor cause the City ITall and 
Fanenil Hall to be appropriately draped, the flags to 
be displayed at half-mast upon the public buildings for 
a period of six days, and the bells of the city to be 
tolled during the hour set apart for the funeral of the 
late President. 

Aldenuan I1ei;sey said : — 

Mr. Mayoi!, — I hardly know hoAV to voice the 
feeling of sadness that pervades every heart con- 
sequent upon the sad intelligence tliat owv beloved 
Chief Magisti-ate has ceased to live. During the Aveary 
weeks in which, without a mnrmnr, he has borne the 
sufFering and pain of his [)rotracted struggle for exist- 
ence he has become more and more endeared to this 
people, and eac-h day has intensified our desire that 
he might live. Over this broad land, from fifty mil- 



K) MEMOPJAL or TKESIBENT GAKFIELD. 

lion homes, comes tlie sad eiy of liereavcment from a 
lieart-bi-okeii, strieken people. Across the wide ocean, 
Avherever a Christian people dwell, the sad intelligxmce 
has cast its gloom. Flashing along the wii-es that form 
a symi)atlietic cord imiting the continents are speeding 
tlie words of syinpatliy from every land, showing that 
our <>'ricf and loss are shared 1)V the common l)rother- 
hood of man. Words can l)ut fcelily express om* sense 
of sori'ow. That in time of i)eace, with no exciting 
issue to influence the jiassions of men, an assassin's 
hand sliould deal the blow of death, escaped upon 
many a Held of l)attle; that our l)eloved President, 
in the strength of his manhood, when he had hut 
reached tlic sunnnit of human amljition, should be 
stricken down, seems sad indeed. 

But so it has l)een ordained, — the dread messenger 
of Death has knocked at the door of the ]S^ation's Capitol, 
and all ihat love and human skill could do were 
unavailing to stay his progress. A Christian warrior 
has fallen; the sword that he drew in defence of 
human lil)erty and a nation's life lies forever sheathed 
in its scabbard; and he has passed on to that realm 
" where the wicked cease from troubling and the 
wear}' are at rest," to receive the glorious reward of 
those who fuliil well their mission here. 

The resolves and orders were adoiited unanimously Ijy a 
risinji' vote. Sent down for eoneuvrenee. 

Alderman YiLES moved that the regular meeting of this 
Boartl, on .Monday next, he dispensed with, as that is the day 
set apart for the funeral of our late President, and that when 



ACTION OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT. 17 

this Board adjourns it be to meet on Wednesday, tlie 28tli 
inst., and that all orders of notice he made retm-nahle on that 
day. 

Adopted. 

Alderman Slade offered the following : — 

Ordered, That a eulogy upon the life and public ser- 
vices of James A. Garfield be pronounced at an early 
day before the City Council and the citizens of Boston, 
and that a committee of three members of this Board, 
with such as the Common Council may join, be appointed 
to make suitable arrangements therefor. 

Passed, and Aldermen Slade, Tlxker, and Heusey were 
appointed on said committee. Sent down. 
Alderman Curtis offered the following : — 

Ordered, That a delegation from the City Govern- 
ment, consisting of His Honor Mayor Prince, the 
Chairman and one other member of the Board of 
Aldermen, the President and two other members of 
the Common Council, be appointed to attend the obse- 
quies of the late President of the United States at 
Washington. 

Passed, and Alderman Curtis was appointed on said 
committee. Sent down. 

Adjourned, on motion of Alderman O'Brien. 
3 



18 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL. 

The memljers of the Common Council were called to order 
by their President, ANniiEW J. Bailey, Esquire, who read 
the call for the meeting, and spoke as follows : — 

James Abram Garfield, the twentieth President 
of the United States, is dead. The tired lieavt is still, 
and the patient soul has g-one to its home. Eleven 
weeks of niemorable trial have been added to our 
country's histor}^, — weeks of pain and anxiety for 
every patriotic heart. Who of us will ever forget the 
deep hori'or which prevailed on receipt of the first 
news of the terriljle outrage, felt to be not only 
against the man, but against the nation itself? 

AVho Avill soon forget the gloomy anniversary of our 
birth as a nation, or the hunger for favorable news 
from the stricken President? Then the first gleam of 
hope, the alternating hopes and fears of these bitter 
days of national anxiety, the shutting out of all hope, 
and the stern recognition that death must come. 
Yividly as it now seems to us it will stand out still 
more vividly in the future. Two strong characters 
have been blazoned on our nation's page, that will 
grow stronger and stronger the closer they are studied. 

The noble wife, rising from all but a fiital sickness, 
and, with heroism and fortitude never surpassed, com- 
forting, cheering, and sustaining her stricken husband, 
^ever despondent, never discouraged, she Avill stand 
forever as the American idea of noble wifely devotion, 



ACTION OF THE CITY GOVER^'^rE]S"T. 19 

and of heroic ami womanly character. The respectful 
homage of mankind is hers, and the sj^mpathy of a 
nation's sorrowing people are with her. 

Our second martyi'-President, elected to his high 
office through respect of his talents and admiration of 
his nol)le manhood, the patient courage, the cheerful 
and almost boyish disposition in the endurance of long 
and terrible sufferings, endeared him to the hearts of 
the people, and nuule him the loved President of the 
American people. Our hearts are sad to-day, and the 
gloom of this terri])Ie calamity will not soon pass from 
the nation's heart; but these examples of American 
manhood and womanhood will gild tlie gloom, and add 
heroism and loveliness to American character. Tt rests 
with us, gentlemen of the Common Council, to take 
such action as Avill testify to the nation the ai^precia- 
tion of our community of this affliction, and our sym- 
pathy with the mourning fjimily. 

The resolutions and order passed hy the Board of 
Aldennen were presented by Mr. Hexry Parisian, of Ward 
9, and upon tlicir being read l)y the President, Mr. Paukman 
said : — 

Mr. Pre-Sident, — In moving the adoption of these 
resolutions I cannot but attempt to feebly express the 
feelings which I know animate the ])reasts of not only 
all in this chand)cr, but of every one throughout the 
length and l)readth of this land, to whom the news has 
come of the fatal termination of the long and lingering 
illness, and that our Chief Magistrate is no more. For 



20 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

eighty days, hourly we have examined each l^nlletin as 
it brought to xis news of the condition of the President 
of the United States, and we have ahernated between 
hope and despair. During tliose eiglity days Ave may 
say that we have been fused into one nation. Though 
elected to the position which he held by one of the 
political parties of this country, party lines vanished 
before the assassin's blow, and political difierences 
were forgotten in our common grief. 

James Abram Garfield, who was shot on the second 
of July, at his post of duty, exemplifies to us, as has been 
ajiprojoriately said in these resolutions, the fact tbat any 
one of us, by force of character, ma}^ reach the highest 
post in the gift of our fellow-citizens. His career has 
been watched so long by his fellow-countrymen, and is 
so well known to every one in this assembly, that I 
will not repeat it. We all feel that the attack of the 
assassin was upon each one of us; but at the same 
time we must remember what Mr. Gari'IELD himself 
so eloquently expressed upon tbe death of our first 
martyr-President, that, though our chief has been 
stricken down, " God reigns, and the government at 
Washington still lives." Though we may mourn for 
him as one of the best and noblest types of American 
manhood, yet we must endeavor to show respect for his 
memory !:»}' attempting to carry out what we think he 
would have desired. And, Mr. President, as you your- 
self have so well said, with regard to Mrs. Garfield, 
while undoubtedly there are mimy women in this broad 
land who, under the same circumstances, would have 
sliown the same fortitude and spirit in their troubles, yet 



ACTIOX OF THE CITY G O VEETs'jrEIsrT. 21 

it has been given to this woman to show what our high- 
est type of American womanhood is. She has stood the 
ordeal nol)ly, ami we extend to licr our most sincere 
sympathies. Mr. President, I move the adoption of these 
resolutions by a rising vote. 

Mr. "\YiLLiAM H. WniTMORE, of "Ward 12, said: — 

^Ir. Pkesidekt, — I rise to second tlic motion, in the 
name of those of us who did not aid in the election of 
President G^ikfield. And with that preface the mem- 
ory of that opposition forever ceases. As President, he 
was our President; tlie chosen head of the whole people; 
the visible sign of a nation's sovereignty; the object of 
the love and loyalty of every citizen. lie lias fallen a 
victim to the dangers of his post, — a maityr to his 
country, as truly as any of his associates who fell on the 
field of battle. Most fortunately not a suspicion can 
exist that the cowai-dly assassin has a confederate or a 
sympathizer. The j)olitical framework of our government 
stands to-day intact and admirable; our sympathy can 
be freely and justly bestowed upon Garfield as a man 
grievously afflicted, but for that very cause nearer and 
dearer to us now and always. 

This community, proud of its loyalty, is a unit also in 
its aftcction for the fallen chieftain. From the moment 
of the first announcement of the dastardly act until the 
stroke of the midnight bell i^roclaimed the mournful end, 
a shadow has rested on every household. The spectre of 
Death has been with us, da}' and night, as though the 
first-born lay stricken in every home. Day by day we 



22 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

have watched the bulletins, to glean a deceptive comfort 
from hopeful words, or to sadly anticipate the day which 
has now come. Kings and nobles have faced the scaffold 
with a firmness which awakened the pride of their follow- 
ers; but for two long months our heroic President has 
faced Death with a coxu'age and composure greater than 
theii's; a richer memory to the citizens of this reiJublic; a 
higher example for them to imitate. 

I most heartily support the admirable resolution of con- 
dolence with his wife and family. It will never be for- 
gotten that his wife was his truest friend, his unfiling 
sujjportei-. The few respectful glimpses we have of the 
sick-chaml)er reveal her as that crowning glory of a 
man, a true wife. Well and fully has she struggled, 
only to remain to bear a weaiy burden for many years. 
Friends may foi'get, children may outgrow their pas- 
sionate grief; but the helpmeet of the President's life 
can ))ut mourn and wait. 

In l)c1inH' (»f I'very household in this community, in 
the name of eveiy happy family in the land, Ave tender 
her our sympathy, our prayers for that consolation 
which the hope of a blessed immortality can alone af- 
ford. 

One last word: the miserable cause of this calamity 
still lives, to learn, in due season, the Aveight of a 
nation's curse. 

It l)ehooves us all to see that he I'cceives his just 
punishment, not in hasty Avrath, Imt by the inflexible 
force of a just vengeance. It has been said that "there 
is a divinity that doth hedge in a Icing.'' Let us 
prove that the affection of a mighty nation forever 



ACTION" OF THE CITY GOVERXJIEXT. 23 

encompasses its elected chief, and that the sword of 
justice, inevitable and relentless, awaits whoever strikes 
at the I^ation's heart. 

The resolves and order were read a second time and passed, 
in concurrence with the other branch, by a unanimous rising 
vote. 

An order came down for tiie appointment of a committee to 
attend the funeral of iho President, at A\'ashington. Read twice, 
under a suspension of the ruk', on motion of Mr. Nathan' G. 
SiUTH of AVard 21, and jiassed in concurrence. ^Messrs. Hexry 
Pakkman of Ward 9, and Francis W. Pi:av of AVard 5, were 
appointed on said committee. 

An order came down for a eulogy to be jjronounced upon the 
life and services of President Garfield at an early day, and 
appointing a committee to arrange therefor. Read twice, under 
a suspension of the rule, on motion of ilr. Jonx B. FiTzrAXKiCK 
of Ward 8, and passed in concurrence. Messrs. Ciiakles E. 
Pratt of Ward 21, AVm. II. Wiiitmoke of Ward 12, Prentiss 
CoiMiNGS of Wind 10. William E. Bartlett of Ward 15, and 
John A. McLaughlin of Ward 7, Mere appointed on said 
committee. 

Adjourned, on motion of Mr. Alfred S. Brom'n of A\'ard 
23. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



MEMORIAL SERVICES. 



The Committee of the City Council appointed to make ar- 
rangements for a memorial senice, in honor of the late President, 
fixed upon the 20th of October as the time for holding the 
services. 

The Honorable Nathaniel P. Banks, whose intimate acquaint- 
ance with President Garfield gave him peculiar qualifications 
for the task, was invited to pronounce a eulog}', and accepted 
the invitation. 

Tremont Temple was selected as the place for holding the 
services, and the Tremont Temple Corporation tendered the ii-ee 
use of the building for that purpose. 

The ofler of the Boylston Club to furnish the musical portion 
of the exercises was accepted. 

Among those to whom official invitations to attend the ser- 
vices were extended were His Excellency the Governor, and the 
members of his personal staff; the E.xecutive Council; Heads of 
State Departments ; United States ofiicers — civil and military — 
located in Boston; the Judges of the Supreme, Superior, and 
Municipal Courts ; past jNIayors of the city ; city officers and 
heads of departments. 

The platform was appropriately decorated. A crayon portrait 
of President Garfield, drawn by Mrs. AV. C. Houston, was 
placed in front of the organ. 

The services opened at eleven o'clock with a voluntary upon 
the organ, selected from "Judas Maccalxeus," by Mr. George 

"VV. SUMXER. 

His Honor Mayor Prince then spoke as follows : — 



28 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 



ADDRESS OF HIS HONOR THE MAYOR. 

Fellow- Citizens : — The vicissitudes of human life and 
the mutability of human aftairs are forcibly impressed 
upon us by the sad fate of our nuu'dered President. 
A short time ago we saw him in all the pride of his vig- 
orous manhood, full of hope and health and strength. 
Comely in person and in manner, the gaze of millions 
was upon him as he stood before the American people, a 
candidate for the highest honor which the repulilic can 
confer upon a citizen. Less than a year has passed away 
since he Avas elected to the presidency, and only a few 
months have gone since, with the benedictions and bless- 
ings of the whole country, he was installed in his high 
olfice and began to administer the great trusts reposed in 
him. And he so liore himself as to satisfy even his 
political opponents that he was well fitted to occupy the 
exalted place to which he had l)een elected. But while 
" his greatness is a-ripening, Avith all his blushing honors 
thick upon him," the angel of Death issued his untimely 
summons, and Murder served the mandate. Yet he 
died — 

As sets the morning star, which goes 
Not down behind the darlcencd west, nor hides 
Obscured witlun the tempests of the sky. 
But melts away into tlie light of heaven. 

Tiie people, in the midst of their exultant hopes, are 
suddenly filled with lamentation and grief. Finite intel- 
ligence cannot explain why this appalling change was 
permitted to be, for the assassination was wanton, un- 



>nEMOEIAL SERVICES. ' 29 

provoked, and without cause. The mystery must 
remain unsolved until the solemn day when all secrets 
are revealed. 

When Ave remember, however, that uot his countrymen 
alone, but nearly all the nations of the civilized 
world, without regard to differences of race, religion, 
forms of government, customs or manners, tenderly 
deplored the death of our President, and condoled with 
the American people in their great bereavement, — an 
event unparalleled in recorded history, — can we not be 
pei-mitted to indulge the belief that this general sympathy 
may mean that peace and good-will shall hereafter more 
largely inspire the nations? If it shall thus bo, then 
perhaps the great sacrifice has not been Avholly made in 
vain. The city government of Boston, as one form of 
expressing the sympathy of the citizens at this time, has 
directed a eulogy on the life and character of our mar- 
tyred President to be pronounced on this day. It Avill 
become a record, for the instruction of the generations 
which are to succeed us, of lofty patriotism, of eminent 
pnblic service, of heroic fortitude inider the severest suf- 
fering, of the calmest courage in the face of death, of 
Christian resignation to the will of Providence, and of 
unfaltering faith in a glorious innnortality. A distin- 
guished citizen has been selected for the discharge of this 
grateful duty. Ilis intimate acquaintance with the 
deceased, his knowledge of his moral and intellectual 
rpialities, and his appreciation of his patriotic services, will 
enable him to speak fitting words of encomium. The 
part assigned to me in these memorial services is merely 
the introduction of the orator to the audience. 



30 MEMORIAL or PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

The BoTLSTON Club, under the direction of Mr. George L. 
Osgood, sang the following requiem mass by Palestrina : — 

Kyrie cloison, Christe eleison! 

Hostias et preces tibi Domine laudis offerimus, 

Tu suscipo pro animabus illis 

Quaruin bodie memoriam facimus. 

Fac cas Domine, de morte transire ad vitam. 

Quam olini abraha; promisisti 

Et semini ejus! 

Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabbaoth ! 
Pleni sunt cctli et terra gloria tua. 
Hosanna in excelsis ! 

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. 
Hosanna jii excelsis ! 

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata muudi, 
Dona eis requiem scmpitcrnam ! 

The IMator asked the attention of the audience while prayer 
was oflered by the Keverend Samuel K. Lotiikop, D.D. 



PR.\YER BY REV. S. K. LOTHROP, D.D. 

x\lmighty, Infinite, and Incomprehensible God, Ave 
bow before Thee as the Creator and Upholder of the 
universe. Thy power rideth on the whirlwind; Thy 
wisdom discerneth the hidden things of darkness; Thy 
goodness poureth into our hearts their gladness. To 
adore Thee is ovn- solemn joy; to trust Thee is unfail- 
ing safety; to love Thee is peace eternal. Without 
Thee we are and can do nothing. Dei^endence upon 
Thee is all our strength. In the beammgs of Thy 



IHEMOEIAL SERVICES. 31 

glory is all our light. In prostrating of our will to 
Thy most holy will is our highest dignity and elevation. 

Helj) us, O God, to prostrate our wills hefore Thy 
will. In this time of our national calamit}' and sorrow, 
may we be still and know that Thou art God; may we 
be humble, lowly, and penitent; may no doubt disturb, 
may no murmur escape, may no fear prevail. Rever- 
ently and gratefully recalling all Thy gracious Avays, 
all Thy merciful deliverances and dealings with this 
nation in earlier and in later times, may we feel that 
our trials and our triumphs, oui- gloi-ics and our 
calamities, our days of grand and magnificent and our 
days of sad and solemn commemoration, alike speak to 
us of Thy wisdom and Thy mercy in the steps by 
which Thou hast raised us up and led us onward to a 
high place among the nations. Oh, help us, therefore, 
to mingle gratitude with our thoughts as we gather 
here this morning at the call and on behalf of our city to 
commemorate the late President of these United States, 
summoned by Thee from his high place on earth to the 
footstool of Thy throne in Heaven; and while we listen 
to the words of wisdom and ol' liiitli which Thy servant 
shall speak to us, portraying in all the beauty and 
grandeur of their proportion his life and character and 
service, may our hearts become more and more grateful 
for that life, that character, that noble examjjle, that 
wonderful career. 

We thank Thee, O God, that through Thy provi- 
dence, and his own energy and noble purpose, the 
youth triumphed over all the obstacles of a lowly lot 
and pinching poverty, and limited oi^portunities ; that he 



32 MEMORIAL or PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

succeeded in the acquisition of knowledge and the 
dcAelopment of talents and the formation of character, 
so that he l)ecanie a scholar and teacher, wise and 
skillul, faithi'ul in all the highest objects of education. 
We thank Thee that when the exigency of the country 
demanded, the scholar and teacher passed into the soldier, 
and carried into the arena of war, courage, bravery, 
skill, a spirit of self-sacrifice, a ])Ower of endurance, an 
energy of perseverance, and an aptitude and sagacity 
in military afl'airs that shoAvcd him to be alike competent 
to command, and worthy to be trusted and obeyed. 
AVe thank Thee that when he was called from the cami) 
to the capitol, from the military to the civil service of 
the country, he exhibited in the halls of legislation a 
breadth and wisdom of statesu)anship, a logic and 
eloquence of utterance, a large and comprehensive 
policy, that indicated the force of his character and his 
principles, and secured to him respect, confidence, and 
trust. "VYe thank Thee, O Giod, that when through 
these qualities and Thy providence, and the will of the 
people, he was called to the highest honor the nation 
could confer, and to the grandest trust it could confide 
to his keeping, he walked forward to that position with 
mingled dignity, modesty, and meekness, and that during 
the brief time he was permitted to discharge the duties 
of his olhce he did so with a broad, comprehensive, and 
patriotic integi'ity of purpose. And above all, O God, 
w^e thank Thee, that Avhen suddenly struck doA\m by 
the hand of wanton folly and malignity, and left to 
languish week after week in pain and suffering, and 
alternate hope and apprehension, with weeping friends, 



MEMOin.Vl. SKHVICES. 33 

ail aii.\i<jus nation, and an adniirinj^ world at his 
bedside, duiinji: all this period no nmrinur or complaint, 
no IVitter thought, no harsh word, nothing unworthy of 
a noble soul, escaped from his lips, was written upon 
his countenance, or displayed in his manner; but all 
was calm and serene, cheerfulness, suljniission, trust in 
Thee, the exhibition of a Christian temper, and the 
mighty power of a C'hi-istian faith. 

And now, O God, that the end has come, amid 
scenes and circumstances that make it gloi-ious to him, 
but a loss and unhappiness to ourselves, we pray that 
Thou wouldst help us to gathci' up the lessons of his 
life and apply tlu'm to oui- own characters and con- 
sciences. The life of the Itoy, the man, the scholar, 
the teacher, the soldier, the statesman, the president 
and chief magistrate of a great nation, and, above all, 
and in and through them all, of a simple, pnre, 
unaffected, sincere, devout Christian. 

O our Father, we pray that his name, his fame, 
and his memory, while they abide a rich inheritance 
and holy consolation in the hearts of his family, — the 
wife and mother and children, whom we commend to 
the consolation of Thy Spirit, and the guardianship of 
Thy love, — we pray that they may dwell in the hearts 
of this people, that they may lie close to the consciences 
of this nation, and that to us and to generations that 
come after us they may ever be a guide and inspira- 
tion, an incentive to love what is good, to do what is 
right, and to strive for all things noble and pui-e. 

O onr Father, sanctify unto this country this ap- 
pointment of Thy Providence. Grant that the life, tlie 



34: MEMOKIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

character, the services, and the death of our himented 
Pi-esident may exert a holy inlluence, and may serve 
to hhid the hearts of all our people in all quarters of 
this great Kepublic closer together in the bonds of 
jKitriotie love and duty, so tliat our union may be 
cemented in tender ties and sympathies; so that the 
peace, the prosperity, the gloiy, the progress of this 
nation may endure through long generations. 

Almighty God, we commend to Thee thy servant, 
the President of these United States, in the discharge 
of the duties of the high position to which he has been 
so solemnly called, and may all the scenes and circum- 
stances imder which he is called to it speak to his 
heai't and conscience, and make him wise and faithful. 
May the sympathies and I'espcct of the people go out 
to him. May we remember all the difficulties and 
perplexities and embari-assments that necessarily sur- 
riiuiid him. May we refrain from harsh and hasty 
judgments; ma}^ we wait and be patient, and do Thou 
shed down npon him all the holy influences, and endue 
hiui with the heavenly wisdom that shall make his 
administration a Ijlessing to this people, an honor to 
himself, and a great good to the nation. 

Bless, O God, we entreat Thee, this ancient and 
veneral)le Commonwealth in all its dear and valual)le 
interests. Bless tliis City of our Fathers. Bless thy 
servant, our Cliief Magistrate, and all associated with 
him in the management of our municipal affairs, and 
help tlieni so to conduct them as shall promote not 
only our material i)rosperity, but onr advancement in 
manners, morals, institutions, and character, in all 



MEMORIAL SERVICES. 3,1 

things that shall serve to conthiue us a city set on a 
hill. 

Bless all the peoples and nations of the world, — 
this great race of humanity struggling and striving 
here upon earth. Help each and all to subdue the 
evil in llic individual heart, that thus an end may 
come to injustice and wrong. Teach the violent in all 
hinds and in all classes that the wrath of man woi-keth 
not the righteousness of God. O our Father, bring 
all the customs, habits, institutions, all the thought 
and action of mankind, into a closer and closer har- 
mony with the spirit, the character, the teachings of 
Ilini who, coming to bear ^^atness to Thy truth, and to 
proclaim Thy love unto the world, bowed His head in 
a grand self-sacrifice on that cross from which lie has 
shed pardon and peace, heavenly benedictions and 
holy influences, upon the w'orld. In Ilis name we offer 
our prayer, beseeching Thee to forgive our sins and to 
answer our jirayers, and as His disciples we ascribe 
unto Thee the glory, the dominion, and the praise 
forever. Anicn. 

The BoYLSTOx Club then sang the Choral Hymn "Integer 
Vittv." 

The Mayor then introduced tiie Honorable Nathaniel P. 
Banks, wiio proi-ccdcd to deliver bis address, which was 
listened to witii close attention and frequently interrupted l)y 
applause. 

At the conclusion the Boylstou Club sang the Choral 
Hymn "What God doth AVill": — 



30 MEMOrtTAL OF PRESIDENT GAEEIELB. 

Li-t not thy life be spent in lamenting; 

Be still, if God decree; 
So shall it be my will ; 

So let it be. 

Care not tliou if to-morrow brings sorrow; 

Abcjve thee reigns still the One 
Who all liatU done, 

Ami loves thee. 

So now in all thy striring, thy tliriving, 

Stand surely ; 
What God doth will, 

That call thou best. 

Tlie audience was then dismissed with a licnediclion ])]•()- 
noiinced by the Rev. Dr. Lothrop. 



THE EULOGY, BY NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 



EULOGY, 



Mr. Mayor, Gentlemen of the City Council, and 
Felloic-Citizens : — 

It is l)ut little more than a year since the 200111 
anniversary ol" the Settlement of Boston Avas fitly 
and grandly connnemurated. AVhen compared with 
the lives of men such a period seems long. It is 
but a span, a breatli in the life of nations. Urhi 
et Orhi — the city and the universe — was a pregnant 
maxim of the seven-hilled city of Rome. The three- 
hilled city of Xew England may lilt its crest with 
pride, w'henever and wherever the capitals of ancient 
or modern Eui-ope are honored. It has achieved for 
the elevation and liberty of man, in a few generations, 
Avith a few hundred acres of land, more than Athens 
or Rome, Paris or London, accomplished in as many 
centuries. Wiial it has done by itself and for itself 
was for the universal family of man. 

The sad and unnatural events that now bring us 
together recall some of the incidents connected witli 
the birth, growth, aspirations, and triumphs, of the 
metropolis of Massachusetts. 



The town of Watertown, where the American an- 
cestors of the late President of the United States 



40 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GAIIFIELD. 

were cradled, was incorporated at an even date with 
Boston. It was its outpost, its military protector, its 
fountain of supplies, and the overflow of emigration 
from the restricted jurisdiction and territory of the 
city was a never-failing- source of pojjulation and 
strength for the adjacent inland settlement — tAvinned 
with her, both at a birth — in the beautiful valley of 
the Kiver Charles. Salem and Charlestown had earlier 
done as much I'or Boston. 

Boston was the metropolis and mart of the colony, 
the seat of government, the centre and focus of 
wealth, and AVatertown the earliest and strongest of 
its inland settlements, outi'anking for a period of years 
all othei's, except Boston, upon an exact estimate of 
its varied elements of wealth and strength. 

The history of the Plymouth settlement of 1(320, 
which preceded the end)arkation of the Massachusetts 
colony, was blistered with the results of a bitter and 
ai)parently relentless destiny, against which it would 
have been scarcely possible for any people l)ut the 
Massachusetts Pilgrims and Puritans, strengthened by 
the later colony of Massachusetts Bay, to have 
secured a triumph like that which the Deity they 
worshipped vouchsafed to them. 

Its founders were refugees from England, exiles in 
Holland, and gladly bi-avcd sufiering and death in the 
!N^ew World, foi- liberty of conscience and freedom to 
worship God. For the first ten years of its existence 
its growth Avas painful and slow, numbering but 
tlu'ee hundred souls in 1()30. 

The colony of Massachusetts Bay, with which 



EULOGY BY XATHANEEL P. BAXKS. 41 

Plymouth was unitetl, luft the Old World undt'r hap- 
pier auspices. It Avas freighted witji concessions and 
congratulations from the crown. The best men in 
P]ngland were ambitious to share its fortunes. Win- 
throp, Saltonstall, and Sir Henry Yane — "the sad 
and starry Yane "' — were among its leaders, and such 
men as John Hampden, John Pyni, Oliver Cromwell, 
and many others of that heroic type, were restrained 
from emigration at the moment of embarkation, by the 
order of the king. Four thousand families — twenty 
thousand souls — people of culture, capacity, and 
character; no decayed courtiers or adventurers, but 
merchants, seamen, husbandmen, and others, skilled 
in labor and devoted to the highest interests of man, — 
had landed at Boston in ten years from the foundation 
of the city. 

Among them came, in 1G30, Edward Garfield, the 
paternal ancestor of the late President of the United 
States. He was a man of gentle blood, of military 
instincts and ti-aining, possessing some property, and 
a thoughtful and vigorous habit of mind and body. 
The earliest record of his name in the annals of the 
colony indicated an origin from some one of the great 
German families of Europe, and his alliance by marriage 
with a lady of that blood and birth confirmed the 
original impression of the peo^^le with whom he iden- 
tified his fortunes as to his nationality. His emigration 
suggested a purpose consistent with his capacity and 
character, in harmony with the higlicr aspirations of 
the colony. He coveted possession ol" land, and loi' that 
reason probabh', among others, settled in Watertown, 



42 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

where territory was abundant, and boundary lines yet 
delieate and dim, especially toward the west, where they 
were mainly defined by the receding and vanishing 
forms of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. 
In the realm they had abandoned it was a maxim 
among men, that home was where the heart was. But 
in the IS'ew Woi-ld the colonists had discovered that 
both home and heart are where there is lil^erty and 
land. 

He chose a residence near Charles river, a stream 
unsurpassed in I^eauty by any Avater that flows, since 
honored by the residence and innnortalized by the 
verse of Longfellow, and the original and marvellous 
industries that enrich its peaceful and prosperous 
people. 

Edward Garfield, the founder of this new American 
family, did not long linger near the boundaries of 
Boston. His first share in the distribution of land to 
the freemen, by the town, was a small lot or homestall 
of six acres of the territory afterwards incorporated 
as the town of AValtham. Another general grant (jf 
land l)y the town, in KiiJG, "to the freemen, and all 
the townsmen then inhabiting," one hundred and 
twenty in number, called the Great Dividends, gave 
to Garfield a tract of thirty acres, the whole of Avhich 
was within the boundaries of Waltham. In 1650 the 
land allotted to Mr. Phillips, the first minister of 
Watertown, about forty acres, in the same locality, 
was sold, by his heirs, to Garfield and his sons. A 
portion of this estate was afterwai-ds purchased from 
the heirs of Garfield by Governor Gore, who con- 



EULOGY BY XATHAXIKL P. liAXKS. 43 

structed upon it, from imported plans and materials, on 
his return from England, a country-seat, still admired 
as one of the most elegant and stately residences in 
America. The first distinctive title given to the 
territory emhraced within the limits of "Waltham was 
that of " The Precinct of Captain Garfield's Company." 
Captain Benjamin Gai-field, whose name was thus 
honoral)ly identified with that precinct, where he lived 
and died, was one ol" the distinguished men of his 
time. He held his military commission from the 
Governor of the colony. He was nine times Eepre- 
sentative to the General Court, and often appointed 
Selectman and to other important offices. His monu- 
ment, in the ancient cemetery of Waltham, still attests 
his high character and standing among the founders of 
Massachusetts. After the incorporation of that town 
this name rarely appears on the i-ecoi'ds of ^A'atertown. 
AVhile citizens of "NVatertown Garfield and his descend- 
ants were assigned to important military commands 
by the Governors of the colony, and frequently chosen 
to responsible town offices. Others were honored in 
a similar manner in ^Vatertown, in AValtham, and 
wherever they planted themselves. They did not hive 
in the settled and safe centres of the colony, but struck 
out boldly for the frontier, Avhere danger was to 
be encoimtered, and duty performed. They adhered 
zealously to the principles of the colony, and the 
controversies that arose from considerations of that 
nature, at the very outset of its history, settled 
iil)i)n an unchangeable basis the liberal character of 
the government of Massachusetts. 



44 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

An important and instrnctive illustration of this free 
spirit of the people occurred in the second year of its 
history. Without prcAious consultation of the several 
to-\vns, the Governor and assistants levied upon them, 
in 1G32, an assessment of eight pounds sterling for 
construction of military defences in what is now 
Cambridge. This order was declai-ed to be sub- 
versive of their rights. The people of Watertown, 
the most populous and influential inland town, met in 
church, with their jiastor and elders, according to their 
custom, and, after much del^ate, deliberately refused to 
pay the monej-, on the ground, they said, " that 
it was not safe to pay monies after that sort, for 
fear of bringing themselves and their posterity into 
bondage." 

"When summoned before the Governor they were 
obliged to reti-act their declaration and submit. But 
they set on foot such an agitation through the colony 
as to secnre, Avithin three months of the original 
de])ate, an order for the appointment of two persons 
from each town to advise with the Governor and 
assistants as to the best method of raising public 
moneys. This order ripened, in 1634, into the creation 
of a representative body of deputies elected by the 
people, having full power to act for all freemen, 
except in elections. This was the origin of the House 
of Representatives in Massachusetts. After ten years' 
contest the council of assistants to the Governor was 
separated from the body of deputies, and, sitting as a 
Senate, left to the deinxtics chosen by the towns 
an absolute negative upon the legislation of the 



EULOGY BY NATII^VIflEL P. BANlvS. 45 

colony. Tluis was established, substautiall}- as it now 
exists, the Logislatnre of Massachusetts. 

As the people began to be represented in the 
government dC the colony, so the direction ol" ci\il 
affairs in the towns was intrusted to a numicipal 
body of freemen, peculiar to Xcav England, chosen for 
that purjiosc, and known as the Board of Selectmen. 
It is a satisfaction to knoAv that, during the violent 
contests of ten years for this right of representation in 
State and local governments, EdAvard Garfield, the 
earliest American ancestor of the Martyr President 
whose loss Ave mom-n, as selectman of Watertown, in 
the very crisis of that contest, did a freeman's duty 
with a freeman's will, in securing to the people of 
Massachusetts the rights of local and general represen- 
tation they noAV enjoy. 

The Massachusetts family of Garfields, in the male 
line, were churchmen, freemen, fighting men, thought- 
ful thrifty men, and working men. They were 
enterprising, active, and brave, fund of adventure, 
distinguished for endurance and strength, athletic feats, 
sallies of Avit, cheerful dispositions, and, like their 
eminent successor so recently passed aAvay, noted 
always for manly spirit and a commanding person and 
presence. It Avas a prolific and long-lived race. Mar- 
riages Avere at a premium, and families Avere large and 
numerous. Among the jieople of the Massachusetts 
Colony Avho made their Avay quickly to the frontier 
AAdien new toAvns Avere to be planted, the Garfields Avere 
Avell represented. The foundation of a ncAv munici- 
pality Avas then a solemn affair, usually preceded by 



46 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARriELD. 

"a day of lauiniliation, and a sermon by Mr. Cotton." 
AYhen the territory of INIassachnsetts was overstocked 
they passed to other States in jSTew Enghind, and 
nkiniately to the great AVest. ^Vlierever they were 
they asserted and defended the principles they inherited 
from the founders of Massachusetts. 

Abram Garfield, of the fifth generation, a minute-man 
from Lincoln, engaged in the combat with the British 
at Concord, in 1775, and was one of the signers of a 
certificate, with some of the principal citizens of that 
town, declaring that the British Ix'gan the fight. 
"We shoidd not feel so much solicitude about that 
matter now. 

Abi-am Garfield, a nephew of the soldier at Concord, 
whose name he bore, who represented the seventh 
generation of the family, settled later in Otsego County, 
JSTew York, whei-e he recei^'ed the first fruits of toil as 
a lalx)i-er on the Erie canal. The construction of 
canals by the government of Ohio drew him, with 
other relatives, to that State, where his previous ex- 
perience gained foi- him a conti'act on the Ohio canal. 
The young men and women who left the earlier settle- 
ments for ii-ontier States sometimes consecrated the 
friendships of their youth by a contract of marriage 
when they met again in the gi-eat West. Abram Gar- 
field in this way met and married (February 3, 1821) 
Eliza Ballon, a IS'ew Hampshire maiden, whom he had 
known in earlier years. It was a long wait, and a 
solid union. They were nearly twenty years of age 
when married. A log cabin with one room was their 
home. His vocation was that of an excavator of 



EULOGY BY XATHA^TEL P. BAXKS. 47 

canals in the deptlis of the primeval forests of Ohio. 
There was not nuich of hope or joy in the life before 
them ; but still it was all there was for them of hope 
or joy. They could not expect the croAvn of life 
until they had paid its foi-feit. They adhered to the 
religious customs of childhood. Their labor jiros- 
pered. Amid their suflering- and toil in the construc- 
tion of the ai'teries of civilization, and the foundation 
of states and empires that Avill hereaftei- rule the 
woi'ld, four children came to bless them. The last 
was James Abkam Gakfield (Nov. 10, 1831), 
destined, in tlie providence of God, (o be, and to 
die. President of the Republic of the United States. 
"When he was less than two j^cars of age his father 
died. Hut the orphan boy had no cause of fear. Ilis 
heroic mother strode, axe in hand, into the primeval 
forest; felled trees, split rails, set posts, enclosed 
grain-fields. The elder children stood sentry by her 
side, or gave licr their feeble aid. Soon the 3-oungest 
child — he who was to be President — engaged in 
the i-ude eml)lo3^nents of the vicinage. lie burned 
wood for ashes, made potasji and i)earlash; drove 
mules on the tow-path of the canal, became deck- 
hand, and read in the stars at night legends of the 
bright future before him, — an iimocent and inexpensive 
delight that was never at an}' period of his life denied 
him. Ten long years of toil, building canals, felling- 
forests, clearing lands, cutting roads, fencing fields, 
diplomatizing with Indians, fighting wolves and resist- 
ing the avarice and brutality of civilization, left upon 
their bleached cheeks many traces and tears of agony. 



48 MEMOEIAL or PRESIDEISTT GARFIELD. 

Those were sad words with which the Roman poet 
described the origin and growtli of the ICternal City. 
Tantce molis evat, romanam condere gentem ! How 
much I'ough woi-k it cost to h\\\\(\ Impei'ial Rome ! 
There is a sigh in every letter and anguish in every 
word of that touching epitome of the history of th(! 
world, and tlic widowed mother and her orphan children 
learned at what cost, of hearts' blood, states are 
formed and empires founded. It was a mother's 
heart that at length suggested — always to the right 
child — a more thorough instruction, and a teacher's 
vocation for the youngest boy. IS^ations must be 
enlightened, though their foundations are cemented 
with blood. Some private instruction, the seminary 
at Chester, and the college at Ilii'am, founded by the 
Church of the Disciples, to Avhich the mother and 
son adhered, opened a path to this highei" destiny. 
The college at Bethau}', of the same faith, was 
proposed when earlier courses were completed. But 
the blood within the bo}', the living- blood of hy? ances- 
tors, turned his steps to the imiversities of ISTew 
England, which gave him new elements of life, 
enlarged the circles of enduring- friendship essential 
to his success, and engrafted the refinements of an 
older civilization upon the vigorous stock and stem 
of the western world. 

And so, in 1856, he graduated at Williams College 
in Massachusetts. Returning to the "West, he was 
again, for about five years. Professor and President at 
Hiram College. During this period, though not regu- 
larly ordained, he officiated as a preacher of the gospel. 



EULOGY BY Js'ATHAXIEL P. BAXltS. 49 

Great events were llieu ripening, and liis active spirit 
panted for a wider field of action. The opening of the 
civil war, in 18()1, found him a senator in the Legislature 
of Ohio. The call lor troops, after the first battle of Bull 
Run, made him a colonel of the forty-second Ohio 
Volunteers. The battle of Prestonburg gave him a 
brigadier-general's commission. Gallant and meritorious 
services at Chickamauga brought him merited promotion 
and the rank of major-general. The next year (1862) 
he was chosen a member of Congress, as successor of 
Joshua R. Giddings, of the Western Reserve, a daunt- 
less and deathless champion of universal emancipation 
and liberty, and he accepted that seat in Congress, made 
vacant by death, upon the urgent recommendation of 
President Lincoln and prominent members of his cabi- 
net. This ended his connection Avith the army as an 
officer. He served as a member of the House for 
eight successive terms. 

In January of last year (1880) he was chosen Senator 
of the L^nited States for Ohio, and in ]!^ovember of 
the same year elected by the voluntary suffrages of 
his countrymen President of the Republic. Such a 
flush and flood of peaceful triumphs were rarely before' 
united in one man. 

lie was inaugurated the 4th day of March, Avith 
manifestations of satisfaction and harmony never before 
exhibited. He completed the organization of the gov- 
ernment with like success. On the morning of the 
2d day of July, at the moment of leaving the capital 
for a visit to the homes of his ancestors in Massa- 
chusetts, the scenes to which refei'cnce has been made. 



50 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GAREIELD. 

he was assassinated, dying- the lUth day of September, 
at Elbei'on, Xew Jersey, whither he was borne in the 
vain hope of relief. So fair and foul a day we have 
not seen. 

For eighty da3's the civilized world waited with 
alternations of hope and I'ear the final result. Never 
before, it may be said without exagg-eration, was such 
sori-ow manifested, such tokens of sympathy extended, 
such univei'sal jjrayers offered by individuals and 
nations, as for the relief and recovery of the suffering- 
President. 

Undoubtedly the open assertion in some jjarts of 
the woi'ld of tlie right of assassination as a method 
of reform in administration and government, may have 
intensified the genei'al interest in this calamitous event. 
But the courage and com^^osm-e with which the presi- 
dential martyr Ijore his affliction ; the firmness and 
constancy of his aged mother ; the serenity and saint- 
like resignation of a heroic wife, administering' con- 
solation and courage to husband and father, Avith a 
voice sweet as the zephyrs of the south, a spirit 
gentle as love, and a soul dauntless as the souls 
of women in Israel, — were not unoljser\ed or 
unlionored. It melted hearts in the four quarters 
of the globe, and drew from the sons of men, in every 
land and clime, such attcstalinn and confession of 
the faith that all created beings are children of one 
Father, as never before fell from human lips. We 
should lie dead to sensibility and honor did we not 
feel such unwonted tests of the universal swx'cp and 
scope of human sympathy vouchsafed to us by the 



EULOGY BY XATHAJTIEL P. BAJSTKS. 51 

appointed leaders of ehurehes, empires, and republics; 
and In that angust lady, the Queen of England and 
Empress of India, that presides over the councils of 
the emjiire whence we derive our ideas of Christian 
faith, language, liberty, and law, who gave to the 
afflicted children of revolted and Republican America 
the emblems of mourning, reserved by the customs of 
her court to the best beloved and bravest of her 
realm, sending, l)y her OAvn hand, to wife, mother, 
and orjjhans, swift and touching evidence of the strength 
of her sympathy and the depths of her sorrow, — the 
grandest of sovereigns and noblest of women! 



TVe turn from this record of active and honorable 
service to a brief consideration, such as the occasion 
permits, of the elements of character which distin- 
guished President Garfield. After all, character is 
the only enduring form of wealth. It is the power 
by which the world is ruled, the only legacy of 
true value that can be transmitted to posterity. 

Let us glance for a moment at some of the princi- 
pal events of the last fifty years, — a full half 
centm-y, — from 1831 to 1881. 

President Garfi(>ld was born in 1831. Soiith Caro- 
lina had then announced her purpose to annul certain 
laws of the United States Avithin her own jurisdic- 
tion: that is to say, certain laws of the United States 
were to be regarded in that State as of no validity or 
legal force; antl this by the act of the State alone, 
without consultation or consideration with or for the 



52 IVIEMOEIAL OF PRESIDEISTT GAEFIELD. 

United States. In other States the laAvs of the 
government were to l)e obeyed, unless one or all of 
those States, following the example of South Carolina, 
should annul them. This action contemplated the 
overthrow and destruction of the authority of the 
general government Avithin that State ; and from that 
day to this, in one form or another, the intent and 
purpose of the nullifiers of the South to cripple or 
destroy the power of the United States, so fai', at 
least, as to render it innocuous and inoffensive to 
persons who did not like it, its legislation, or its 
theories, was never entirely abandoned. 

The process of nullification Avas directed ostensibly 
against the tai-iff legislation of that period, but in 
fiict, as afterAvards admitted, it Avas to protect and 
perpetuate slavery, and to establish a theory of gov- 
ernment imdcr Avhich any State could annul laAvs of 
the United States on that sxibject. This phase of 
the doctrine of State sovereignty Avas overthroAvn 
by the vigor and courage of President Jaclcson. He . 
gave vent to his indignation against that treasonable 
heresy, and let loose his passions upon its agents in, 
as he thought, his native State, for their attempt to 
overthroAV the government of Avhich he Avas the head. 
It AA'as then universally believed that the doctrine of 
State supremacy Avas dead. But it does not so appear 
noAV. 

In 1852 INIr. Garfield came to the full age of 
manhood. He found the doctrine of State sui^rem- 
acy in ajiparent discredit, and nullification absolutely 
discarded. The object at that time was — assuming 



EULOGY BY JfATHAJflEL P. BAJS^KS. 53 

that the Constitution was intended to protect slavery, 
bnt had from some cause or other failed to do it — to 
induce Congress to establish, by constitutional compi-o- 
mises, doctiiiics in regard to slavery which neither 
the Constitution, nor the framers of the Constitution, 
ever entertained, to wit, that the supremacy of slavery 
should be established by irrevocable and unchange- 
able laws, enacted by Congress. 

This would produce, by affirmative legislation of 
Congress, the same results that would have followed 
the negative method of nullification by States. It 
Avould have established the supremacy of slavery and 
the destruction of the government as a national insti- 
tution. Andrew Jackson did not then stand at the 
helm. The compromise was made a law in 1850, and 
endorsed in the presidential election of 1852. 

The subject of slavery was forever to remain un- 
challenged and unopposed by the national government. 
Political conventit)ns endorsed it as a finality in legis- 
lation on that subject. The Senate Committee of 
Territories, with a majority of Southern members, de- 
clared that to open the question of slavery, so 
solemnly settled, by the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise, or otherwise, would deluge the land in blood. 
The President announced that any action of that char- 
acter would meet his official disapproval. The country 
had, in fact, surrendered to the demand for congres- 
sional recognition of the supremacy of slavery and the 
slave States over the national government! Neverthe- 
less, the question was immediately opened by the same 
power that had so recently closed it. The sacred 



54 MEMORIAL or PKESIDElS'T GARFIELD. 

compact and compromise of ISoO was broken. The 
Missonri Compromise of 1820 was repealed, and the 
monstrous doctrine proclaimed, l)y the highest judicial 
tribunal, as an interpretation of existing laws, that 
four million people of the United States, who might 
become twenty millions, " had no rights a white man 
was bound to respect." This was the second epoch 
in that important histor}', and of the career of the late 
President. 

In 1860 Garfield was a Senator of the Ohio Legis- 
lature; in 1862 a Major-General of the army, and in 
1863, a memljer of Congress. Abraham Lincoln had 
been inaugurated President of the United States. 
The nidlificrs threatened secession. Thirty years earlier 
they had attempted the nullilication of certain laws of 
the United States, within the States. Xow they pro- 
posed to nullity all laws and repudiate all authority of 
Congress, within tlie States, and to eject the general- 
government from its jurisdiction and territory. The 
friends of the government deprecating war, and fear- 
ing a dissolution of the Union, adopted, by immense 
maj(M'ities, in Congress, an amendment of the Consti- 
tution declaring that no legislation affecting slavery 
should ever be proposed by the fi'ee States, leaving 
that vexed cpiestion entirely to tlic tender mercies of 
slave-holders. But it did not ])revent secession, nor 
avert Avai-. Most of tlie slave States withdrew from the 
Union. AVar was declared. A fratricidal contest of 
four years ensued. '^Flie confederate armies surrendered; 
peace was established ; the States returued to the 
Union, slavery was abolished, and the emancipated 



EULOGY BY XATHAJSTIEL P. BAXKS. 55 

slaves invested whh the right to vote and liold oflfiee, 
— a third memorable epoch in this history. 

At the death of Pix'sident Garfield, during- the last 
month, the great political organizations of the country, 
substantially the same as before and since the war, held 
an exact or nearly equal balance of i)ower in every 
political division of the government except the execu- 
tive dei)artment. The Senate Avas exactly balanced, and 
without ])owcr to act on political questions unless 
some senator abandoned his oAvn to give a majority 
to the opposing party. The House of Representatives 
was in a simihu" condition of incapacity to act, except 
by attiliations and combinations of opposing factions. 
The States nearly balanced each other, and tlic ])opular 
vote, at the election of 1880, did not sliow a majority 
of more than three oi' live thousand votes on one side 
or the other. The government was at a dead-lock, — 
an embrace of death if indefinitely continued. And 
this is the substantial I'csult of a perpetual conflict of 
liall" a cenlui'y to preserve the government of the 
Republic ! 

It sometimes occurs, at the close of great trials, that 
reaction gathers courage and strength, and pi-ogi'ess, 
wearied with contest, or satiated witli victory, i)ants for 
breath, and finds in rest, spirit and power for possibly 
greater efforts and grander ti-iuni])]is. Such is, perhaps, 
the secret of the present situation. Jiut upon what 
glorious results this reaction follows ! The past half 
century is the epoch of enianeipation. Millions of 
slaves have been in\(.'sted with the prerogatives of liberty 
by England, France, the United States, and Russia, — 



56 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

four of the great empires of the globe brandhig the 
petty remnants of chattel slavery everywhere with in- 
efiacealjle signs of decay and death. With this great 
epoch of emancipation the late President rose from 
obscurity to fame. He gave to its work, in sunshine 
and shadow, his affection and strength. Upon him, at 
its close, though not its first or greatest leader, rested 
its highest honors, and the tragic termination of his 
life seals forever the miion of liis name and fame with 
its imperishable triumphs. 

"We know how much the character of one age is 
affected by tliat which precedes it. The early 
colonial history of Massachusetts left its impress 
upon his spirit. The suffering and sorrows of his 
immediate ancestors wei-e not lost upon him. Like the 
most pleasing of Milton's deities he had 

^luch ol' his father, but of his mother more ; 

and it was imdoubtedly upon the record of events in 
the last half century of our political histor}^ that he 
was led, from the opening of his career, to devote 
himself to the active studies and duties of public life; 
for we know that, whether or not he aspired to the 
high station he reached, he was eminently well pre- 
pared for it. The rubric of events so briefly sketched, 
measin-ed by days and hours, as by thought and deed, 
was the exact term, division, and limit of his life. He 
knew and comprehended it. Upon it his character 
was founded. 

He could not have fiiiled to observe that the pres- 
ervation of the Union was an object of the highest 



EULOGY BY XATHAXIEL P. B.VXKS. 57 

possible importance, over and above all others; that 
every act of legislation proposed in the interest of 
slavery imperilled to the extent of its success the 
authority and existence of the Union, and that unyield- 
ing resistance alike to direct and indii-ect assaults ujaon 
its integrity and authority was the highest duty of 
every citizen. This was his platform. To it he gave 
the best efibrts of his life. In the early part of our 
history. Southern leaders of the Union — Washington, 
Jelferson, Madison, Monroe, and many others — hoped 
and believed that slavery woidd become extinct through 
the influence of the Constitution and the force of natu- 
ral laws. The contest made against the authority of 
the Union in 1832 put an end to that expectation. 
The Compromise act of 1850, and the Kansas and 
Nebraska act of 1851:, not only disposed of all such 
theories, but established the supremacy of slavery 
over government and i)eoi)le. Previous to this legis- 
lation, and the Dred Scott decision of 1857, the insti- 
tution presented mainly an abstract question, whether 
or not, on the whole, slavery was permissible or excus- 
able, expedient or just, Avhieh allowed many conscien- 
tious and Christian persons to hesitate in declaring 
against it, and many more to avoid opinion or action. 
When the recognition of slavery compelled an unre- 
served approval of that compromise, the Fugitive Slave 
law, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise against 
slavery, an abrogation of the power of Congress to 
legislate upon that subject, which it had exercised 
with the approval and consent of all the slave States 
for fifty 3'ears, and an assent to the judicial interpre- 

8 



58 MEMORIAL OF PKESIDENT GAl?riELD. 

tation of the Constitution and laws by the Supreme 
Judicial Court of the United States, which declared 
that slaves " had no riti'hts which the white man was 
bound to respect"'; and that "negroes might justly and 
lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit"; when 
Congress and the Supreme Court had annidled all 
legal and constitutional power of the government and 
people, inconsistent with this white man's decree, then 
slavery was no longer an abstraction. It became a 
practical matter, involving the I'ights of all classes, and 
the existence of the government. AVhile it was con- 
sidered an abstraction, slavery was arrogant, aggressive, 
triumphant. AVhen freedom became a practical matter, 
involving the existence of their government, the people 
assumed the otfensive, and won victories commensurate 
with the dignity and justice of their cause. The 
momentary triumph of .slavery was its destruction, and 
it must have been sport for old Homer's gods, if any 
still live, to see these engineers ''' hoist with their own 
petard." 

Garfield came to the full age of manhood, and gave 
his first vote, in the very year when the legislation of 
Congress, with constitutional interpretations of the 
Supreme Court, had made the Constitution a bulwark 
of slavery and the slave power. 

Doing no injustice to multitudes of intelligent and 
patriotic young men of the country, and considering 
only the eminence he had attained at his death, we 
may imagine him perhaps to have been an unconscious 
and unrecognized leader of the new recruits, in the 
great electoral contests of 1854, 1856, and 18G0, which 



ETTLOGY BY NATHANTEL P. BANKS. 59 

established the su[)reinaoy of the constitution and 
liberty! Garfield, Fremont, and Lincoln I What mem- 
ories surge from the depths of the past at the men- 
tion of their names ! No political contests ever involved 
more important and vital issues, from the beginning 
of government. Xo forces were ever better marshalled; 
no victory better deserved; no triumph more complete! 
There was singular force and strength in a decla- 
ration made by the pastor of the Disciples' Church, 
at the burial service of President Garfield. The 
funeral obsequies were celebrated — for the first time 
in the history of the llepublic — in tlie rotunda of the 
capitol at Washington. The gigantic pi-oportions of 
this apartment excite a profound sensation in every 
visitor. One f;imiliar with the scene recalls at his 
entrance an ancient tradition, often repeated before the 
war, that this majestic central building of the capitol 
was at some day to Avitness the coroiuition of a ting. 
Apart from the luiusual solemnity of the ceremonies the 
scene was of an extraordinary character. The light 
that fell from the dome above gave a solemn aspect to 
the apartment. Distinguished personages moved silently 
and slowly to the positions assigned them. Two ex- 
Presidents, inuuediate predecessors of the deceased, the 
only occupants of the presidential office ever pres- 
ent on such occasion, sat in front of the eastern 
entrance of the rotunda. The Diplomatic Corps, in 
full court costume, were placed in I'ear of the ex- 
Presidents. Senators, judicial officers in their robes, 
officers of the army and navy in l)ri]]iant uniforms, 
were on the right. Members and ex-members of the 



60 MICMORIAL OF PKESIDENT GARFIELD. 

House, in larg-e numbers, attended by the Speaker, 
were massed n2)on the left, and the space around them 
was crowded by distinguished citizens from every part 
of the count ry. The august assembly rose as the 
President, with cabinet officers and the stricken family 
of mourners, passed to their seats near the casket of 
the deceased Chief Magistrate, — resting upon the same 
bier that bore the body of President Lincoln, just 
beneath the centre of the canopy that from the dome 
overhangs the rotunda, and guarded by veterans of 
the army of the Cumberland. The walls Avere hung 
with represeiitations of soul-stiri-ing events in American 
history: the landhig of Columbus, De Soto's discovery 
of the Mississippi, the baptism of Pocahontas, the em- 
barkation of the Pilgrims, the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and 
the resignation of Washington. On the belt of the 
rotunda above were seen Cortez entering the Temple 
of the Sun in Mexico, the battle of Lexington, and 
other studies of immortal themes in the history of the 
Republic. 

Simple, brief, and impressive ceremonies heightened 
the deep and genei'al interest of the occasion. The 
funeral discoui'se was of a purely religious character, 
Avitli scarcely more than a brief allusion to the career 
of the deceased President, and no mention, I think, of 
his title or his name. But these omissions intensified 
the general iiileiest in the brief personal allusions. "I 
do believe," the preacher said, "that the true strength 
and beauty of this man's character will be found in his 
discipleship of Christ!" 



EULOGY BY NATHANIEL P. BANKS. 61 

It is not my province to speak of the spiritual char- 
acter of this connection, but in another relation I 
believe it is true. 

The Church of the Disciples, to -which he belonged, 
is one of the most ijrimitive of Christian communions, 
excluding every thought of distrust, competition, or 
advantage. It gave hun a position and mission unique 
and generic, like and unlike that of other men. '\Vhile 
he rarely or never referred to it liimself, and might 
have wished at tunes, perhaps, to forget it, he was 
sti'engthened and protected by it. It was buckler and 
spear to him. It brought him into an immediate 
communion — a relation made sacred by a common 
faith, barren of engagements and responsibilities — Avith 
multitudes of other organizations and congregations, 
adherents and opponents, able and Avilling to assist and 
strengthen him, present or absent, at home or abroad, 
who dismissed aspersions upon liis conduct and char- 
acter as accusations of Pharisees against a son of the 
true faith, and gave him at all times a friendly greeting 
and welcome, whenever and Avherever he felt insjiired 
to give the world his thought and word. All great 
movements and revolutions of men and nations are 
born of this spirit and power. 

In another direction the deceased President possessed 
extraordinary capacities. He was animated by an in- 
tense and sleepless spirit of acquisition. It was not, 
apparently, a sordid thirst for wealth, precedence, or 
power, which stimulates many men in our time. His 
ambition was for the acquisition of knowledge. From 
early youth to the day of his last illness it was a con- 



62 MEMORIAIi OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

suming passion. He gave to it days and nights, the 
strength of youth, the vigor of middle age. When in 
the forests of N^ew York he made the rocks and trees 
to personate the heroes of his early reading. Engaged 
in the duties of his professorship he found time for 
other studies than those pi-escrihed by the faculty, and 
for lectures, addresses, and many other intellectual 
pursuits. He studied law while at college, without 
the knowledge of his intimate friends, until he was 
admitted to the l)ar. When in Congress he would 
frequently occupy a whole night in examination of 
questions to be considered the next day, and debate 
them as if nothing unusual had occurred. 

Setting aside all scruples, he would remain week- 
days or Sundays in the Lilirar}' of Congress Avhenever 
public duties required it. This capacity for labor gave 
him manifold and vast advantages over other men 
incapable of such toil. It was his stronghold. This 
was ])erceptible in the first instance in his connection 
with the army during tlie civil war. 

At the opening of that memorable contest there 
were many men suddenly summoned from the pur- 
suits of civil life, and unaccustomed to prej^arations for 
war, who were necessarily incapable of suggesting the 
best methods of organization, and for that reason 
unable at once to enter upon a career of positive, 
well-considered, and resolute activity; and some, at 
least, of those who had been instructed by the govern- 
ment in the m^'stery and ai't of scientific warfare, after 
a long and familiar dalliance with "the canker of a 
calm world and a long j^eace," wei-e only fired with 



EULOGY BY KATHANIEL P. BAXKS. 63 

the rash enthusiasm of indolence and inactivity. This 
inexperience cost the government inuch precious time, 
whicli, otherwise appHed, might have put an end to 
the war before it was begun. In great emergencies 
there are always many useless men of genius and 
learning; but, iu administration and government at 
least, men of labtjr are scarce and invalualjle. (larfield 
was one, and a leader among them. AVlicn he entered 
the army he did not Avait for orders, but began to 
learn first what was to be done, and then how to 
do it. It was his role, the ordinary hal)it of his life. 
He had l)ut just entered the field of war at the opening 
of the campaign in Kentucky, Avhen necessity compelled 
Jiiin to resume his laborious habits of school and col- 
lege. He set himself at work to learn, as best he 
might, what was in tlie wind; where was the enemy, 
what his strength, and how best to fight or evade him. 
It was easy for him to digest information picked up 
in many weeks' inquiry, and mass its details under 
appropriate heads, which, when applied to the objects 
immediately in view, presented, in itself, an eftective 
and complete plan of operations Avithout study or 
trouble. This was less the I'csult of special capacity 
than of general habits of industry, a love of labor, 
and a burning thirst for acquisition and information. 
And so, hiter in the Avar, Avhen he became Chief-of- 
Staff of the Army of the Cumberland, under General 
Rosecrans, — Avhich AA'as the post he chose, and then 
undoubtedly the a])propriate field for him, — Ave learn, 
upon good authoi'ity, that his burt'uu of military 
information was the most j^erfect machine of the kind 



64 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

organized in the field during- tlie war. And when, 
at last, an advance upon the enemy became neces- 
sary to satisfy an impatient government and people, 
and seventeen generals, whose opinions Avere asked by 
Kosecrans, advised against the movement, their reports 
were submitted to Garfield for examination. He ana- 
lyzed them, contrasted the vieAvs of one Avith those of 
another, compared their results Avitli complete reliable and 
varied intelligence acquired from his officers, scouts, 
spies, the soi;tliern people, fugitives, contrabands, and 
the movements of tbe enemy, and, in a complete analysis 
and study of the situation, upon information Avhicli he 
alone presented, and against the opinion of nearly all 
subordinate generals, reduced to demonstration the 
truth of his premises and conclusions, and led the way 
to the Tullahoma campaign, Avhich is said to have been 
as perfect in plan and as ably executed as any campaign 
of the Avar. In s])eaking of the report, "WhitelaAV Keid, 
in his history, "Ohio in the War," says: "This report 
we venture to pronounce the ablest military document 
known to bave been submitted by a chief-of-staff to his 
superior officer during the Avar.'' 

Garfield had, also, preeminent skill in directing and 
applying the labor and attainments of others to the 
success of his oavu Avork. This is a somewhat rare, 
Init an invaluable capacity. jSTo one man can do 
everything. In labor, as in Avar, to divide is to conquer. 
There have been men Avho laiCAV everything and could 
do everything, — whose incomparable capacities Avould 
have been sufficient, under Aviso direction, to have given 
the hi "best rank among the fcAV men that have cbanged 



EULOGY BY NATHiiXIEL P. BANKS. 65 

the destiny of the world; but who could not succeed in 
government, because they never saw men until they run 
against them. 

Such adiniralili' (|u;ilities, united to such strength and 
love for active service, gave him reputation and rank, 
and opened the way to brilliant campaigns in Kentucky 
against Marshall at Prestonbui-g and at ^Middle Creek, 
— the last a cause of other victories elsewhere, — and 
at Tullahoma and Chickamauga. 

His knowledge of hnv, pi-ivately acquired, opened a 
new field of activity and service, of great benefit to 
him and the government. But little attention liad been 
given by professors of legal science, at the opening 
of the war, to the study of military law. In the field 
where it vvas to I)e administered, great difficulties were 
encountered in determining what the law was, and who 
was to execute it. A distinguished jurist, Dr. Francis 
Lieber, was appointed h\ the government to codify 
and digest llu' ]>rinciples and precedents of this abstruse 
department of juridical science. But it o])ened to 
Garfield, long before the digest was completed, a 
peculiar field for tireless research and labor in new 
fields of inquirv. Once installed as an officer of 
coiu'ts-martial his services were found to be indispen- 
sable. From the West he was called to Washington, 
entered innnediately into confidential communication 
with President Lincoln in regard to the military situa- 
tion in Kentucky, was a member of the most important 
military tril)unals, became a favorite and protege of the 
Secretai'y of "\Vai", and, by exjjress wish of the Presi- 
dent and Secretary, accepted a seat in the House of 



6G MEMOEIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

Representatives, to -whieh he had been chosen in 
18G2. 

His career in Congress is tlie important record of 
his hfe. For that he Avas best fitted; with it he was 
best satisfied; in it he continued longest, and from it 
rose to tlie great destiny Avhich has given him a 
deathless name and page in the annals of the world. 

The House of Representatives, in the age of Clay, 
Calhoun, and Webster, was an institution quite unlike 
that of our own time. Its numbers then were small, 
its leading men comparatively rare; but few subjects 
were debated, and members of the , House seldom or 
never introduced bills for legislative action. Its work 
was prepared by committees, upon oflicial information, 
and gentlemen wishing to speak upon its business 
could ahvays find an opportunity. Xow its numbers 
have been doubled. More than ten thousand l)ills for 
leo-islative consideration arc introduced in every Con- 
gress. The increase of ap[)ropriations, patronage, and 
legislation is enormous, and the pressure for action 
often disorderly and violent. Little courtesy is wasted 
on such occasions, where one or two hundred members 
are shouting for the floor; and when one is named 
by the Speaker it nuist ho a strong man, ready, able, 
eloquent, to gain or hold the ear of the House. 
Garfield never failed in this. His look drew audience 
and attention. He was never unprepai'cd, never tedious, 
always began with his subject, and took his seat when 
he had finished. He had few controversies, and was 
never called to oi'dcr for any cause. He was a debater 
rather than an orator; always courteous, intelligent, 



EULOGY BY K"ATHA>TEL P. BAXKS. 67 

intelligible, and honorable. The House listened to him 
with rapt attention, and he spoke with decisive effect 
upon its judgment. He liked it to be understood that 
he Avas abreast of the best thought of the time; he had 
a high regard for the authority of scientific leaders, 
and walked with reverential respect in the tiacks of 
the best thinkers of the age. It is a pleasant thing, 
this method of settling all problems b}' demonstration 
of exact science. Hudibras must have been in error 
when he spoke so lightly of these scholastic methods, 
saying, or rather singing : — 

Th.^t all a rhetorician's rules 
Teach him but to name his tools. 

But there arc moments when abstruse, scientific terms 
leave an insatiate and aching void in the human heart. 
Multitudes felt the sting of such a sorrow as they 
watched, Avith agonizing interest, toward the close of 
the President's suflering, his terrible struggle for life, 
and trembled, with alternations of hope and fear, as 
they stiidied the morning and evening bulletins that 
described the incidents of night and day Avith the 
precision of exact science in language freshly bor- 
roAved from the medical terminology of ancient Greeks 
and Egyptians, that seemed to impart ncAV terrors to 
disease and death. And they turned Avith infinite relief, 
though not always Avith strengthened hopes, to the 
telegrams of the Secretary of State, announcing to the 
world, in the language of common life, the changes 
that had occurred in the ebb and floAV of life's dark 
tide. 



68 MEMOEIAI. or PKESIDEXT GARFIELD. 

As chairman or a prominent member of the prin- 
cipal business committees of the House, Garfield 
had an easy access to the floor, and an eager assembly 
as his audience. His topics were generally of a 
national character, connected with the organization and 
maintenance of various departments of the govern- 
ment; but there was scarcely any subject brought 
before Congress to which he had not at some tune 
given a thorough and able exposition of his views. 
The best known and most influential of his speeches 
were in relation to the war, financial aflfairs, the 
currency, and the tarift'. These all involved national 
interests, and oxhi))it on his part a profound study 
of every sul^ject necessary to their support. He was 
from the first, and constantly, a hard-money man, 
a leader in discussion, and a supporter by his votes of 
every proposition necessary to maintain a sound cur- 
rency. On the subject of the tariff, while he did 
not deny that, as an abstract question, the doctrine of 
free trade presented an aspect of truth, he ahvays de- 
clared that under a government like ours protection 
of national industries was indispensable. He advo- 
cated duties high enough to enalile the home manu- 
factnrer to make wholesome competition with foreigners, 
but not so high as to subject consuinei-s to a home 
monopoly of product (n- supply. A moderate and 
permanent protection was the doctrine he always 
ably snstained. It would be instructive to recall 
the expression of his views embodied in his speeches 
upon these sulijects, which he photographed upon 
the minds of those to whom they were addressed, 



EULOGY BY NATH^^jyiEL P. B^VNKS. C9 

but inappropriate at the present moment. His speeches 
on occasions of ceremony — to most persons difficult 
and eml)arrassing because of their departure from 
the usually impetuous and often stormy courses of 
debate — were numerous, and always classed with the 
best records of connnemorative and ajsthetic oratory. 
Few men in the history of the House of Rep- 
resentatives liave actpiired a liiyher reputation, and 
none Avill be more kindly and permanently remembered. 



It was said by one of the Avisest of the ancient 
Greeks that it is " impossible to penetrate the secret 
thoughts, quality, and judgment of man till he is 
put to proof by high office and administi'ation of laws." 
AVhatever we may think of the si)lendid record of the 
late President in every walk of life he followed, it 
does not enable us (o anticipate the character and 
ultimate success of the administration upon which 
he so happily entered. In other positions of public 
life the concurrence of so many different influences 
is required to accomplish even slight results, that 
individual credit or responsibility therefor is often 
slight and intangible. In the administration of govern- 
ment, the highest secular duty to Avhich men are ever 
called, responsibility is indivisible and unchangeable; 
and the final results, whether for good or evil, are 
indelibly stamped on the Avoof and Avarp of the web of 
time, and Avill so remain forever. Good intentions are 
of no account, and a plea of confession and avoid- 
ance, — admitting failure but disclaiming error, — so 



70 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

advantageous in other cases, never influences the 
woi'ld in judging' meu wlio fail riglitly and success- 
fully to administer government. AVe are happy in 
being absolved froin the responsibility of such judg- 
ment where authoritative decision is impossible. 

Of his ideas of administration and go^x'rnment, their 
object, method, scope, and power, he has left a record 
Avhich will tbrever stand a monument of his capacity 
and genius for investigation, discrimination, learning, 
a just comprehension of what should be required, and 
the best method of achieving desired results. His 
inaugural address is a masterly exemplification and 
vindication of his views, and the satisfaction with 
which it Avas received, an indication of the confidence 
of the country in his ability to execute purposes so 
wisely and well stated. But the vigor of war is not 
always equal to its sounding protocols. 

A comi^arison of what he had done, with what he 
might do, would give assurance of splendid success. 
It Avas on that principle that the late presidential can- 
vass terminated in his elevation and honor. He had 
been faithful in a feAv things ; he Avas made ruler 
over many. But, beyond that, no tribunal is com- 
petent for a final decision, and judgment must be sus- 
pended. We have other duties more closely identified 
Avith his fiune, and our success and happiness, that 
claim our attention. 



What influences and Avhat measures may be relied 
upon to avert the repetition and extension of this 



EULOGY liY NATHAXIEL P. BANKS. 71 

terrible calamity Avhich has again I'alk'ii uijon the 
EeiDublic and its people — inexplicable, immeasurable, 
and unnatural — is a subject of supreme importance, 
possibly, of unconquerable difficulty. 

To shield ci'inic by folse accusations of innocence will 
not accomplish it. To attrilnite this calamitj' to causes 
which are inseparable from liberty, which are inherent 
in every free g-overnment, and from which this country 
has never been and can never be free so long as liberty 
exists, will neithci- protect us from further peril nor 
absolve us from weighty and crushing resj^onsibilities 
now and hereafter. 

The political complications and convulsions of the 
present year are slight in comparison with those of 
other periods of our ])()litical history, not in one city 
or state, but in ever}- city and state throughout the 
coimtry. 

The city of Boston cannot have foi-gotten the riots 
incited in her streets against Washington and the 
measures of his administration. The men of this 
generation have never known nor heard of such jjolitical 
violence as that directed against Jefferson and the 
measiires of his administration. We ought not to 
forget, even here, Ihat against the administration of 
Madison, the father of the Constitution, — a modest, 
peaceful, timid, irresolute man, — we ourselves organized, 
justified, and defended, a political convention in a 
neighboring city, which was supposed to have contem- 
plated resistance to the government of the United 
States. I am myself old enough to have heard, in a 
neighboring State, on a calm and beautiful Sunday 



72 MEMORIAL OF PEESIDENT GAKFIELD. 

morning, influential and respectable citizens and church- 
nienibers say openly and seriously, in the presence of 
many persons, of whom I was one, tliat they would 
assist in the assassination of AndreAV Jackson. And 
this on account of his measures against the Bank 
of the United States. If honoral:)le and educated 
Christian men of Xew England entertained such ideas 
of Jackson, who had just then saved the government 
from destruction by nullilication, what must have been 
said of him by the nullifiers themselves, in South 
Carolina, where nearly every man was a nullifier, and 
where, as was said of O'Connell — 

A nation was in a man comprised ? 

We cannot forget what occurred during tlie ad- 
ministration of Mr. Lincohi, or of his successor, Mr. 
Johnson. AVe have witnessed no such political con- 
vulsions in our day. No one ever excused the 
assassination of Mr. Lincoln on such grounds, or 
could have counselled such violence against the chiefs 
of earlier administrations. ;Neither can it noAV be 
done, with trutli or justice. Those who enlisted in 
the opposition to past administrations were men whose 
intellectual and moral natures restrained them from 
the execution of purposes dictated by passion. Those 
whose feeble intellects limit their moral responsibility 
we must restrain or protect, and never palliate, by 
thought or act, oftences that, under other circumstan- 
ces, might have endangered the life of any President 
of the Republic! Tliere is no cause or incitement 
to crime in the political controversies of this year 



EULOGY BY N"ATHA>nEL P. BANKS. 73 

that miyht not liave occurred under any previous 
administration; and ncitlier motive nor temptation, of 
any kind whatever, for such an ineftahle and inexpi- 
able crime as tlie murder of the mild, generous, 
■\varm-liearted, foi-giving, and Christian Chief Magis- 
trate, whose loss we mourn. 

It is unwise and unjust that individual idiosyncra- 
sies or conduct should be charged to political j^arties 
or people, or that the institutions and government of 
the country shoidd be considered as inevitable, natural, 
proxhnate, or even incidental causes of such criminal 
acts. Liberty ofiers opportunity, but never justification, 
for crime. 

Political assassination is not insanity. It proceeds 
often fi'om temporary self-imposed infection and dis- 
temper of the mind. It is not necessarily limited to 
the reform of administrations and governments. It 
can as well be apj^lied to the settlement of private 
affairs as to the overthrow of dynasties. 

It is a phase of the doctrine of annihilation that 
has been applied to the reform of governments else- 
where by large classes of discontented people; and 
we now learn with astonishment that it is as applicable 
to our own free and just government as to the des- 
potisms of the Old World. It is not now for us to 
speak of repression or retribution ; but one of the 
many sovereign remedies for its evils is to avoid 
convidsions, private and public, restrain passion, sup- 
press injustice, practise moderation in all things, and 
T\ do no evil that good may come. 



10 






ix: JOL znz JUL iiaM- 



■f-^i f 









v aft- <»«■ "owar ";^. w^ 

■rf* 

■-« -if 



FINAL PROCEEDINGS. 



FINAL PEOCEEDINGS. 



At a meeting of the Board of Aldcnueii, held on the 24tli of 
October, 1881, Alderman Charles H. Heksky offered the follow- 
ing resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : — 

JResolved, That tlic thanks of the City Council be 
expressed to Nathaniel P. Banks, for the interesting 
historical sketch of the life and public services of 
James A. Gakfield, kite President of the United 
States, which was eloquently presented by him before 
the City Council on the 20th instant, and that a copy 
thereof be solicited for publication. 

Besolved, That the thanks of the City Council be 
tendered to the Directors of the Tremont Temple 
Association for their courtesy in allowing the City of 
Boston the free use of Tremont Temple, on the 
20th instant, for the observance of the Memorial 
Services in honor of James A. Gakfield, the late 
President of the United States. 

Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be 
transmitted to the officers and members of the Boyls- 
ton Club for their valuable assistance, which made 
so acceptable and so successful the nuisical portion of 
the Memorial Services, on the 20th instant, in honor 



80 MEMORIAL OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

of James A. Garfield, the late President of the 
United States. 

The Common Council, on the 27th of October, concurred in 
tlie passage of the resolutions, and they were approved l)y the 
Mayor October 28th, 1881. 



